Should You Be Drinking Wine According to the Moon?

We look to the moon and planets for guidance about a lot these days, from when to start a new project and end a toxic relationship, to why we might be in an emotional funk (Mercury must be in retrograde. But should you consider lunar forces when drinking wine? A number of winemakers believe the movement of the moon should guide us in grape-picking, and drinking.

It’s part of biodynamic winemaking, a style that calls for a combination of rigorous farming regulations—no pesticides or chemicals allowed—and a more holistic, spiritual approach (you may have heard about the more sensational mystical stuff here—something about burying cow horns in the manure or special compost preparations that sound more like witch’s brew). Biodynamic winemakers use moon methods—based on ideologies developed by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner and his student-turned-biodynamic leader Maria Thun in the 1920s—to determine when to prune, rack, and bottle their wines.

As natural wines have become the category to know over the past few years, they’ve primed a new audience for biodynamic wine as well. While natural, biodynamic, and organic wines have their differences, all abide by overarching principles of ecological consciousness. “The best part of biodynamics is that it is a commitment to the land and the community,” says Victoria James, beverage director at the Michelin-starred COTE restaurant in New York and author of Drink Pink: A Celebration of Rosé. “These are winemakers who understand that wines are an expression of their environment. As such, they are doing everything in their power to make sure that the environment's expression is at its best.”

If you are someone who leans towards organic, unprocessed food, this concept of conscious farming probably sounds familiar. Why reach for a wine filled with additives and chemicals when you would never eat food that’s made that way?

“I am a firm believer that following the biodynamic calendar has a huge impact on both farming and winemaking,” says RAW WINE founder and leader of the natural wine movement Isabelle Legeron. “It makes sense. There is nothing remotely obscure or occult about biodynamics; it is really just a systemization of age-old wisdom...the moon’s gravitational pull exerts massive force on our oceans, creating tides, so it doesn’t take a great leap of imagination to realize that plants—which are themselves mostly water—are greatly affected too.”

Biodynamic calendars associate each day of the year with Earth, Fire, Air and Water symbols, which ultimately provide guidance for farming and wine drinking. The days are broken down into the following categories: Root (when the moon travels through Earth signs Virgo, Taurus, and Capricorn), Flower (when the moon travels through Air signs Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra), Leaf (when the moon travels through Water signs Cancer, Pisces, and Scorpio) and Fruit (when the moon travels through Fire signs Leo, Sagittarius, and Aries). In winemaking, the emphasis is on Flower and Fruit days, with Fruit (perhaps obviously) being the most optimal.

“The theory goes that you pick when you want to highlight that element to its fullest potential,” says California-based vintner Angela Osborne, who has been making her wines this way since she launched in 2007. “Wherever possible, I will pick under a Fire sign (Aries, Leo or Sag) as fire corresponds to the element of warmth, which is associated with fruit in the biodynamic calendar.”

Some biodynamic believers draw the line at wine tasting by the lunar calendar. “If you want a glass every night and you want to wait until a Fruit day, you are in a tough situation, right? I think you should just enjoy what’s in your glass that day,” says biodynamic expert Joseph Brinkley, head of vineyard operations at Bonterra Organic Vineyards in Mendocino County, California. (Bonterra’s vineyards are certified biodynamic by Demeter, the world’s only certifier of Biodynamic farms and products.) “But if you have a really great bottle that you have been holding onto for a while, then it might be worth waiting a few extra days to open it on a Fruit day.”

If you want to put wine tasting and the lunar calendar to the test, this month’s upcoming Fruit days, according to Maria Thun’s Biodynamic Calendar, are: September 11, 16, and 18. Leaf days and Root days are generally considered bad for wine tasting. Test out these cycles and see if you notice any subtle differences in the wine’s taste (biodynamic wine in particular).